Reply With QuoteGreat review and a watch that is now firmly on my 'maybe one day' list.
Background: The Journey
I started collecting watches 11 years ago after I graduated from university and bought a quartz omega seamaster bond as a present to myself. This watch was my daily wearer for around 5 years. At around this time I started to discover watch fora and realised that as an upcoming WIS, the more I read about watches and learnt about the movements that powered them, the more I realised that I just couldn’t continue wearing this quartz for the next 5 years. I then began a period of research and refinement, deciding which watches I liked and which watches I didn’t. As a manufacturer, Omega appealed to me, maybe because my father always wore an omega seamaster watch. Therefore I bought and sold several new Omegas, such as the white Omega Seamaster GMT, Speedmaster Day-Date, TT Aqua Terra and Speedmaster Professional. At this stage as I read more about the history of Omega watches, I realised that horologically Vintage Omega watches were far more interesting than their modern relatives so sold all my modern pieces and began a period of collecting vintage omega watches. Initially I bought dress watches then switched my focus onto sports watches. The fruits of this collection are presented on my website:
http://www.freewebs.com/omegauk
I soon began to tire of vintage omegas, I found that I had too many watches and hardly ever wore most of them. Furthermore, I never wore my rarest pieces out of the house as part of my everyday life for fear of damaging them and never wore them in my numerous water-based activities. At this stage I had closed to 70-80 watches and simply never wore most of them and gained no ownership enjoyment from such a large number. I decided to reduce my collection and focus on a smaller number of more modern pieces that I could wear everyday for all my activities and tried a number of other manufacturers such as Oris, Steinhart and Seiko before buying my first Rolex, a Seadweller. This was my daily wearer for several years until I traded some other watches for a GMT IIC on TZ-UK, which I wore non-stop for around a year or so. I think that for me the GMT IIC represents the apex of the Rolex collection, a superb versatile watch for every day wear. An opportunity arose to purchase a vintage Rolex 5512 Sub from a very close watch collector friend but soon traded this for a Daytona on TZ-UK as again found that it didn’t suit my lifestyle for daily wear. The Daytona is one of these pieces in which after the first few days of elation had passed, I found myself very much underwhelmed by it. It seemed dated and just wasn’t all that interesting after one had gotten over the so-called “rarity” factor. I considered a number of options, including trading it for more Rolex watches but realised that already owning 2 other Rolexes (SD and GMT IIC) getting more pieces would simply mean that they too would sit in the safe unworn for months on end. At this stage I decided to buy something a bit more special, a classic watch with a distinguished history behind it but was tough enough and water resistant that I could wear it every day for swimming, work, formal and causal. Although Rolex would fit the bill, I wanted something subtler, more refined and stealthy. Something that was a classic piece from a distinguished manufacturer but also not a Rolex, something that 99% of people would not notice or have heard of. After several months of research I focussed on the Blanc Pain Fifty Fathoms due to its classic design with a solid history behind it, an interesting movement that was rugged enough for every day wear resulting in this thread:
http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic...thoms#p1611889
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms; The Watch
The watch is 45 mm in diameter and 15.5mm thick and water resistant to 300m, despite being called the fifty fathoms!. Although I was initially concerned whether I could carry off a 45mm diameter watch on my 6.75” wrist, I would say that this piece wears much smaller than this size due to the lugs wrapping around the wrist. It is strange in that I tried out an IWC big Pilot (47mm) and the watch looked absolutely ridiculous on my wrist as If I was wearing a wall clock. The watch feels well balanced on the wrist with the bracelet although felt a bit top heavy on the sail cloth strap which to me felt rather cheap and out of place on such a watch.
The dial.
The dial is a gloss dial with a centrally raised pie-pan portion and white gold surrounded lumed numbers that are symmetrically placed around the dial. The date is at the 4 o’clock position and is unobtrusive, it is there but doesn’t jump out at you. Although I cant really capture this in my photographs, the outer section of the dial has a brushed feeling to it with concentric circles running around the perimeter of the central portion of the dial. The dial is simple and yet has a very understated elegance. The lume is by far the most impressive lume on any watch I have handled, it puts both Rolex and Omega watches to shame, and is a brilliant white colour as opposed to the green / blue lume used in Rolex.
Bezel
The gently curved bezel was the first sapphire bezel to be used on a dive watch and is very much the focus of the watch. It has an almost vintage, warm feel to it. The bezel action is very precise, with almost no give and feels much better than my other Omega and Rolex watches. The numerals / markers are lumed and shine as brightly as the dial markers.
Case
The case as mentioned previously wears much smaller then its 45 mm size would suggest. The lugs are gently curved downwards wrapping around the wrist. The side of the case furthest away from the crown has Blancpain written across it although when wearing the piece it is not very noticeable and much more subtle than one would expect seeing the case. The lugs are 23mm in width and attach to the bracelet by means of a hexagonal screw. The caseback is simple with Blancpain and antimagnetic written at the top and bottom of the case with Fifty Fathoms written across the middle in italicised font. The watches are individually numbered, mine is number 1257. This is one of the reasons I bought this watch, it is not widespread or mass produced (Blancpain only produced around 10,000 watches a year) and it is unlikely that one would meet another wearer in the “wild”. The crown is protected by crown guards and is a screw down crown and is one of the first crowns that matches the feeling of sturdiness of the Rolex triple-lock crown which in my view is the gold standard by which I judge all crowns. The crown has “JB” engraved on the side and this is vertical when the crown is fully screwed in, an attention to detail which is the very ethos of the watch. Other manufacturers such as Rolex and Omega don’t have this level of detail, and their coronets / omega symbols are always at an angle when fully screwed in. The sapphire crystal has a gentle curve that is very reminiscent of acryllic and has a certain warmth to it. It adds a certain vintage character to the watch, going back to a by-gone less clinical era.
Movement
The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms houses the 1315 automatic movement, which has 3 winding barrels and a 5-day power reserve. It is enclosed in a soft iron anti magnetic cage and is nicely decorated as this link shows:
http://blancpain.watchprosite.com/show- ... 1128/s--1/
Bracelet
The bracelet is very well made and is brushed stainless steel with polished segments on the edges. The attention to detail is superb. It is a spring loaded butter fly clasp arrangement with a lock that fits over the clasp for security. The bracelet is substantial but very well made and secure, and wears incredibly comfortably, as though it is made out of cloth. There are two main weaknesses to the bracelet in my opinion. Sizing the bracelet is incredibly difficult, since it requires the simultaneous use of 2 screwdrivers at each edge of the bracelet. I gave up after a while since screws were fairly tight and would have preferred an easier sizing solution. Secondly it would have been nice if there was a means of micro-adjustment of the bracelet similar to GO or the Sub, or even an easy link like other Rolex pieces. This watch is offered with either a bracelet or a sailcloth strap that i thought felt very cheap and would suit a watch costing hundreds not thousands of pounds. Furthermore the sailcloth strap is very light and doesn’t balance the top heavy case of the watch.
Final Thoughts
This is a very well made watch, from a top-end swiss manufacturer based on a classic design from over 50 years ago that forms the DNA of most modern dive watches. It wears much smaller than its size and I would use the term “understated class” to describe it. Will it be my exit watch from this watch collecting madness? I hope so although time will tell. To me it is the complete watch that has taken me almost 10 years to reach the end of my journey and find.
Great review and a watch that is now firmly on my 'maybe one day' list.
Great write up and pics 8)
"I looked with pity not untinged with scorn upon these trivial-minded passers-by"
Superb review. I had my weekly drool at one in my local AD only today. Definitely a grail for me - I hope it turns out to be the grail for you!
Thank you for taking the time and effort to deliver this review, superb piece, and now all yours
RIAC
lovely review - would be nice to see some pics next to the seadweller to get a better sense of size?
how are you getting on with the engraved case?
I have both pieces.Originally Posted by Josh B
The BP is much, much larger but seems to wear well on the wrist.
You really hardly notice the engraving when wearing the BP.
Thanks for a great review, I have only ever seen one of these in the flesh and it was being worn by a business colleague in the Lebanon.
Very understated and as mentioned, carries an aura of compete quality.
Thanks also for the great pictures, wear it in good health!
Andy
The more I look at it I have to say its the only thing I could ever imagine replacing my Deepsea with
RIAC
Lovely photographs, and a well put together and well presented review.
Very nice. :)
Good write-up, any chance of a wrist shot? I'm interested to see how it wears, given your comments about it wearing smaller than you'd expect.?
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Cool, thanks! That does work well.
As I have a wrist size not to dissimilar to yours, that is now officially on my, "well, I can dream, can't I?" list :D
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Probably way to big for me and certainly to expensive for me but I'd still be very interested in a lume shot showing both dial and bezel if possible? This is probably the best looking diver ever IMHO :)
Cheers,
Mabuse
great review, enjoyed reading it a lot, thanks for sharing.
Excellent review, and the very reason I joined this forum: to learn about the little gems out there, which to me are unknown brands. Might fine watch!
Really enjoyed that.
Very informative, thanks for sharing
scooter
Bl**dy superb review. Thanks for sharing. 8)
I especially love "The crown is protected by crown guards and is a screw down crown and is one of the first crowns that matches the feeling of sturdiness of the Rolex triple-lock crown which in my view is the gold standard by which I judge all crowns."
So true. If you get the time, any chance of close up pics of the crown stem?
Thanks again
Thanks for a great review. I really must get a watch with a long power reserve :-)
An excellent review. It's posts such as this that have brought me here. It is also a lovely looking watch and probably the only diver I would consider, if I could ever afford it.
Thanks for sharing this with us.
D
Any update on this? Still loving it 4 months on?
Really enjoyed the read and love the watch. Thank you.
Great review - missed it the first time around - I also have one and love it. I don't wear mine often but when I do, I find myself looking at it, not to check the time but simply because I love the look of it. This to me is the sign of a watch that you're really pleased to own. :)
Wear yours in good health.
Can only echo what a great review.
A while back i tried on the Ltd Edition Raditation FF, lovely watch, well crafted, wore much bigger than i thought. I i liked the sailcloth tbh but can understand why the op feels it cheapens the watch a little. The Ltd Ed was Ł8k + :( which i thought was over priced, but then again aren't all watches
Again, great review
I wear mine on the sailcloth and do so because it gives the watch a distinctive feel, differentiating it from my other stainless steel bracelet watch. I do like the FF on the bracelet but for me, it would make mine feel a little too samey.
One thing not to underestimate is the price of the bracelet - they aren't cheap! so if you want a FF with one, try to find a watch with one already fitted because the aftermarket cost is :shock:
Thanks for your effort!
I was in the Blanpain store in Tokyo (Ginza) a few weeks ago and that was the coolest watch store I've even been to. Let me rephrase that. That was the coolest store I've ever been to.
There was a display cube made entirely of glass for each brand, about 3x3x3 meters in size on the ground floor.
Inside the cube, there was a desk with a Blanpain watch on display.
Inside the cube I realized that the cube actually was a elevator. Once I pressed a button, the cube raised up to the Blanpain store.
Up there, they had a lot of watches on display behind glass. The shopping experience could make anyone open up their wallet.
I got to see the fifty fathoms in person, and it sure looks great.
I tried one in Selfridges (the Tribute to Fifty with the No Rads logo) and thought it was a lovely watch. I really liked it on the sailcloth. Don't think I'd bother with the bracelet personally. They are a hell of a lot of money these days though - pushing Ł10k n the strap if I remember correctly - I found it easier to justify the AP ROO Diver for some reason - despite it being more cash. Down to perception of the brands maybe? :| Anyway, I'd love to own one, but don't think I could bring myself to pay what they cost these days, which is a pity.
Blancpain FF still on my wishlist. Vintage or modern, time will tell
Thx for the review
Best
Hans
I am shocked by how attractive the FF is
Excellent post, many thanks
Gray
looks great on a wrist
Wonderful review. Thanks.
I hope you continue to enjoy your lovely watch...
Thanks for your excellent review. I love the FF look, it's an absolute classic. I think I'd go for a vintage one to get it smaller but can't afford now so it's on the grail list
Wear in good health
Excellent review - thanks for your time :thumbleft:
it doesnt get much better than that. a fantastic piece! enjoy it in good health :)
THE best watch on the planet. Great review and pics. I'll have to make do with my homage to it.
.......now where are those 6 winning lottery numbers?
Your thorough review in combination with these great photos, were very helpful.
What can i say about this watch...?
It's been a resident in my wishlist, for quite some time...
I love the bezel!So shiny ... :shock:
Great review of a perfect diver watch, possibly the best there is (although a show-down with a Zenith ultra thin one would be interesting!)
So that's it? Grail-done? I wonder.... what do you have your eye on at this precise moment? Grail The Return/Prequel/Part Deux?
Hope you are enjoying the FF. 8)
Absolutely stunning piece and excellent review to go with it. Thanks very much for sharing. I am sure you continue to enjoy every minute of it! Love the "ridge" effect on the crystal. Truly mesmerising.
Very impressive - love the bezel.
Superb review! Great watch and reading :)
Great review and nice photos .... Thanks for sharing .... :P
Enjoyed that, thanks for taking the time.
Enjoyed reading your watch collection journey and how you came to this really cool FF :love10: .
Nice review!
That watch is so much on my "must have list". Probably never gonna afford it though :(
Extra nice watch design one of my favorite
excellent review, thanks for sharing
We should rename this the "post here to get on to SC" thread. :lol:
Really great review and awesome photos.
I was going to say, what an excellent review and set of photos....Love the Blancpain look, I cant think of any that I dont like, but this one looks VERY retro and really looks the dogs, however I wont now; in case I get accused of trying to access the SC forum.....bugger :? :roll:
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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